Rock’n’Roll Photography by Ami Barwell, The Fossgate Social, York, October 3 to November 30

The leathery Motorhead veteran has not started a sideline as a doorman but is one of the 38 photographs that form "an intimate exhibition of emotive imagery by the world renowned photographer" Ami Barwell.

Ami, who returned north from London to settle in York two years, has photographed all manner of rock stars from Iggy Pop to The White Stripes' Jack White, Radiohead's Thom Yorke to Johnny Marr; The Stone Roses' Ian Brown to her long stint as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's official photographer, combining close-cropped concert shots with portraiture.

It all began in her home city of Hull, when she worked on the picture desk for the Hull Daily Mail, where her tasks included searching through the library archives. "I remember loads of old press shots of The Rolling Stones," says Ami, looking suitably rock'n'roll in an animal print top in The Fossgate Social's back garden.

"I started getting into rock photography, shooting local gigs at the Adelphi, then going through to Leeds and York, where there usually weren't other photographers. Then I got commissioned to photograph Proud Mary, from Manchester – who are still going with their 95th line-up! – when they were supporting Bryan Adams, so I shot Bryan as well..."

Welcome to the front line, Ami.

"It was all middle-aged blokes, who looked like trainspotters with their rucksacks," she says, undaunted by the photographers' scrum.

"I'm quite ballsy and grew up as a bit of a tomboy, and I'm cheeky too, so I'd think to myself, 'I want that photograph', and once you wriggle your way in, you're there. So, if you really want to get that shot, you'll fight to get it."

Fight, Ami? "I did once get elbowed in the face by a photographer when I was filming The White Stripes at the Brixton Academy," she recalls. "If you get hit like that, you just have to carry on. It's 'first three songs and then you're out' at gigs, so you have to work quickly, and when you're in a professional situation like that, there's the adrenaline of knowing you have to get THE shot. That's exciting."

Such are the war wounds of concert photography, but Ami's end results make it worthwhile, often shot in black and white and usually with wet film, rather than digitally.

"I've always chosen to predominantly shoot with film and I have a style that's dark and film-noir inspired. You're not allowed to use flash but I wouldn't use it anyway, and in a way it's better because you really have to think about working with the stage lighting, which is another challenge, but it means you get much more atmospheric shots.

"Whereas in my studio, I'll use studio lighting flash for portraits, band shots and advertising commissions."

Ami says she was "really lucky" when she was needing her big break.

"Fifteen years ago, there weren't many specialist rock photographers, and after I did some live shots with Snow Patrol, I got chatting with them and they said 'why not come on tour with us?'. Other bands saw the work I did and all of a sudden my name was out there and I was really in demand, and I started doing album, sleeves and band press shots," she says.

Total Guitar and Classic Rock magazines called on her skills too. "They started sending big heavy rock stars to my studio; a lot of whom I hadn't heard of, " she says. Among the well known, however, were German guitarist Michael Schenker and Joey Tempest from Europe.

"I just thought of it as some blokes coming round because it was my home studio. Like Fish, he's just a lovely bloke; he took me out afterwards for dinner."

Ami has worked the most with San Francisco's Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

"That started with a chance meeting. I was shooting for a magazine in Bristol on an NME tour. I bumped into their guitarist and singer Peter [Hayes] and said 'here's my card' and that was it. They said, 'we love your work; will you do our album artwork?'," she says.

"I did four albums with them and single covers too, and I'll be doing limited-edition seven-inch single cover prints for a dedicated Black Rebel Motorcycle Club wall at the Fossgate Social show as they pushed my work to the next level and got me known for a specific style."

What happens on tour, stays on tour.

"You spend a lot of time with a band like BRMC and you just become friends and they know they can trust me. There's a lot of tales I could tell but I wouldn't," says Ami.

Ami even made one of BRMC's single promo videos, teaching herself how to make a film, just as she had taught herself how to take photographs. "I went on a little course in Hull for two weeks when I was 17. It was like a camera club; there were just old blokes, who said, 'Oh that's good, we've got a model now'. That just made me more determined," she recalls.

Ami has diversified her portfolio, creating the By Ami Barwell T-shirt range for Ben Sherman, doing commissions for Converse and EA Games, filming Johnny Marr for Ray Ban, while being happy to be back in Yorkshire, living in Walmgate.

One surprising revelation emerged late on.

"I'm painfully camera shy," reveals Ami. "But that means I can put the people I'm photographing at ease the way I would like to be put at ease. A lot of portrait photographers just jump in and want to get off home, but I like to make it like chatting with a friend. If they're stiff, it doesn't work; I'd rather sit and have a few cups of tea and then do the photographs, and I try not to research people, so that I can react to the moment."

Capturing the moment: that is the essence of Ami Barwell's work, whether in the rush and heat of a concert or the considered study in the studio.

Rock'n'Roll Photography by Ami Barwell will be on the walls at The Fossgate Social, Fossgate, York, from tomorrow until November 30. The opening night with live music will run from 7.30pmto midnight. All the exhibited work will be on sale.